Development of portable baby care monitoring device
Liip
The ai2 Institute of the la Universitat Politècnica de València has worked with the Valencian company Liip on the design of an ankle bracelet for babies from 0 to 24 months. This bracelet or portable device, incorporates sensors that allow the monitoring of the main vital signs of the child: pulse, temperature, blood oxygen saturation, movement and position of the baby. The device allows the detection of epileptic seizures, febrile convulsions, nocturnal apneas, tachycardia or bronchiolitis, among other disorders.
The support to Liip has been carried out from the first concept tests and technical feasibility analysis, to the accompaniment of the start-up in the industrialization of the product. Everything to overcome the requirements of “test before invest” for the start-up.
The ai2 Institute has been in charge of the design, development of the prototypes from the hardware design; in the choice of the sensors, the development of the portable device. As well as in the search of the most suitable suppliers for each component to cover with the operative requirements of the device. The main technological challenge has consisted in the design of the most suitable hardware components, with wide measurement and computing capacity, in a reduced size and low energy consumption.
The portable device system, completely developed at the ai2 institute facilities, it allows a signal analysis by sensors, which generates information with which to feed the alarm system and historical data of the child developed by Liip. The device is placed on the left ankle of babies and, from the first year, on the left wrist, and with an operating autonomy of up to 14 continuous hours.
The portable device allows the transmission of complete information about the most relevant physiological parameters of the baby’s condition. The bracelet sends the data to the parents’ or guardians’ mobile phone or tablet by means of a low consumption Bluetooth connection. These are managed in an application with versions for Android and iOS.
This work has allowed Liip to put on the market a result with the most advanced sensors and embedded systems within the sector of healthcare wearable devices.